Router Switch to AirPort Extreme Improves Everything

redman042 said:

When the Cyber Monday discounts hit, I finally bit the bullet and dropped $150 on an AirPort Extreme router. Boy am I glad I did. My iOS devices are performing much better in every way that involves wifi.

My previous router was a D-Link DIR-655. This is a good N router. But I had a number of issues that even multiple attempts at changing router settings could not fix:

• I could never get AirPlay to perform as good as I thought it should. For example, if I streamed a 1080p video clip shot with my iPhone to my Apple TV, there was a LONG wait to cache enough video before the Apple TV would start playing it. I'm talking 30 second wait to stream a 10 second clip.
  
• I could not get iTunes wifi sync to work reliably. It would work when I first plugged in the iPhone, activated the setting, then unplugged it. But subsequent attempts could not find the PC over the network to enable sync.
  
• Often playing a Youtube video on the phone would run into issues streaming the clip in at a reasonable speed.

ALL these things are massively better with the AirPort Extreme. 1080p clips of any length start playing through AirPlay almost instantly and the caching stays ahead so there's no pausing. Airplay mirroring keeps up with the phone display well enough that I can play a fast-pace flying game while only looking at my TV. Youtube works great. Speedtest pings are low and speeds maxed out to match my DSL speed, anywhere in my two story house. And after a one day test it looks like Wifi syncing is solid too.

I never imagined spending $150 on a router, but once again Apple has proved to me that their products are worth the money. I've invested enough in Apple devices to make this one final investment to make everything I already own work better.

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I have the AEBS and 2 AEs. I'll never own anything else. Congrats on the purchase!

I switched to an Airport Extreme to have wireless wake-on-lan to work. I have it for 2 years now and the Extreme proves to be a very reliable router.

I went from a Netgear to the Airport Extreme a couple months ago, and although the price was a tough one to swallow (along with the drive to a MacWorld store because Best Buy was out), I think it's been worth it. Being that I already had and used an Airport Express, even though it was never configured with my home internet when I did (I used it overseas), my Mac already configured the Extreme to the same settings the Express used. So, it took me longer to get it out of the box then it did to setup my wifi network. I was so impressed by it. I was shocked.

I was having issues with my Netgear, mostly because I could only access the configuration website with my old PC laptop. I couldn't remember the admin password for it and had no way of retrieving it. So, being that I'm not using my PC laptop anymore, I made the full switch to Apple. Damn their products and their incredible ability for them to all work together so well.

Have had horrible luck with Dlink routers and a cheap Netgear that died in less than 6 months.

Time Capsule has been a model of consistency. Thank you Apple.

I have two AirPort Extremes (one 5th gen and one 6th gen), and I'm very impressed with the reliability of those routers.

The 6th gen AEBS replaced a 1st gen Time Capsule that died a few months ago. I won't be buying another Time Capsule as I have a Synology now that runs circles around the Time Capsule; but Apple's routers are worth paying the premium for, in my opinion.

Yes, the AirPort Extreme is an extreme nice device. I specially like the nice integration into iPad with the utility app. Easy to configure or upgrade the firmware. Apple style in usability.
Always a good choice.

CosmoPilot said:

I have the AEBS and 2 AEs. I'll never own anything else. Congrats on the purchase!

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Sorry, I'm a bit late to jump in here, but I couldn't resist. I'm having nothing but trouble on my home network. It's up, it's down, it's slow, it's fast (usually slow), it stalls, etc. My D-Link router has to be re-booted at least once a week. My iMac has a terrible time trying to stay connected to the PC's, and transfer speeds fluctuate wildly.

My DSL is a 2Wire piece of junk that I have to use until my provider upgrades to fibre optic next year. However, I stuck the D-Link in front of it, connecting it to the WAN port on the D-Link. The D-Link then routes to two switches, which feed two PC's, an iMac, and multiple media devices. Adding the D-Link greatly improved the speeds, but transfer to the iMac is still not tremendously fast, and the network is still very unstable.

Here's my plan... you can tell me if it's stupid or not...
I bought a used (2009) Mac Pro to replace one of the PC's (the file server). I'm hoping it will be a bit more stable and work well as a file server. I have a Mac Mini that I may also introduce into the mix. I was thinking of replacing the D-Link with the new Airport Extreme, and then maybe pick up two previous generation AE's to replace my switches.

Do you think the new AE would be more stable than my D-Link, both for wired and wireless connections?
Is it dumb to use an AE for wired connections i.e. is it meant primarily for wireless?
Can the AE function as a "switch" and would it be wise to use it this way?

Thanks for any opinions.